Online communications, particularly by means of the Internet, include streaming video and audio. Products that enable the presentation of such video and audio include the Adobe Flash Player. The Flash Player can be used in conjunction with a web browser to provide video and audio on a web site for selectable viewing. Also available from Adobe is its Flash Media Server, which can function as a control or central server for a number of Flash Players, such as when playing an online game. In such an application, the Flash Media Server and the Flash Players are part of a network in which users of the Flash Players play a Flash-based multi-player, multimedia game. Game play is communicated among the Flash Players utilizing the Flash Media Server as a hub.
Known peer-to-peer communication systems provide multi-party communications by means of voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP). In that regard, a communication system has been devised for communicating video, audio and file data, among a plurality of communication devices or nodes, while not relying on a central server, as disclosed in Pub. No. US 2010/0262709 A1 to Hiie et al., published Oct. 14, 2010 and entitled “Optimising Communications.”
In view of the increasing popularity of online audio and/or video communications, it would be advantageous to utilize at least certain aspects of available technologies to effectively, and with reduced complexity and cost, provide one or more of audio and video communications in a peer-to-peer system.